Cucumber SUPERMAN has conserved function in stamen and fruit development and a distinct role in floral patterning

Jianyu Zhao; Meiling Liu; Li Jiang; Lian Ding; Shuang Shuang Yan; Juan Zhang; Zhaobin Dong; Huazhong Ren; Xiaolan Zhang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0086192

Cucumber SUPERMAN has conserved function in stamen and fruit development and a distinct role in floral patterning

PLoS One. 2014 Jan 23;9(1):e86192. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086192. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Jianyu Zhao¹, Meiling Liu¹, Li Jiang¹, Lian Ding¹, Shuang Shuang Yan¹, Juan Zhang¹, Zhaobin Dong², Huazhong Ren¹, Xiaolan Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Vegetable Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Growth and Developmental Regulation for Protected Vegetable Crops, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.
² National Maize Improvement Center of China, Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement and Genome of Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.

Abstract

The Arabidopsis SUPERMAN (SUP) gene encodes a C2H2 type zinc finger protein that is required for maintaining the boundaries between stamens and carpels, and for regulating development of ovule outer integument. Orthologs of SUP have been characterized in bisexual flowers as well as dioecious species, but it remains elusive in monoecious plants with unisexual flowers on the same individual. Here we isolate the SUP ortholog in Cucumis sativus L (CsSUP), a monoecious vegetable. CsSUP is predominantly expressed in female specific organs: the female flower buds and ovules. Ectopic expression of CsSUP in Arabidopsis can partially complement the fruit development in sup-5 mutant, and its over-expression in wide-type leads to reduced silique length, suppressed stamen development and distorted petal patterning. Our data suggest that CsSUP plays conserved as well as distinct roles during flower and fruit development, and it may function in the boundaries and ovules to balance petal patterning, stamen and ovule development in Arabidopsis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Amino Acid Sequence
Arabidopsis / genetics
Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics*
Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism
Cucumis sativus / genetics*
Cucumis sativus / growth & development
Fruit / genetics*
Fruit / growth & development
Gene Expression
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
Genes, Plant
Genetic Complementation Test
Molecular Sequence Data
Morphogenesis
Organ Specificity
Ovule / genetics*
Ovule / growth & development
Phenotype
Phylogeny
Plants, Genetically Modified / genetics
Promoter Regions, Genetic
Transcription Factors / genetics*
Transcription Factors / metabolism

Substances

Arabidopsis Proteins
Transcription Factors
superman protein, Arabidopsis

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National basic research of China 973 program [2012CB113900], National Natural Science Foundation of China [31171399], and Chinese Universities Scientific Fund [2011JS067, 2013RC030] to XZ. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.